More About Legacy Giving - Audubon Canyon Ranch

Clerin Zumwalt Legacy Circle

A gift in your will or trust

Whether you designate a specific amount or a percentage of your estate, making a gift to Audubon Canyon Ranch in your will or revocable living trust is easy to arrange and costs you nothing during your lifetime. You won’t have to give away assets you depend on, and your assets will remain in your control for as long as you need them.

Consider adding language like this to your will or revocable living trust:

I give { ____ percent of my estate, or description of asset, or _________ dollars } to Audubon Canyon Ranch, a California nonprofit corporation, 4900 Shoreline Highway 1, Stinson Beach, CA 94970 (Tax ID: 94-6069140), for its general purposes.

Beneficiary designations

There is no easier way to sustain our mission of connecting nature, people, and science for a more resilient world than with a gift by beneficiary designation.

Life insurance:
You may have a life insurance policy you purchased years ago and no longer need. You can name Audubon Canyon Ranch as a full, partial, or contingent beneficiary of your policy. You can also sign over a fully paid policy and receive a tax deduction for your gift.
IRA, 401ks, and other retirement plan assets:
As retirement plans are taxed differently than other assets, they can become a tax liability when inherited. Designating Audubon Canyon Ranch as a beneficiary of these assets can reduce or eliminate this liability. You can include Audubon Canyon Ranch on the beneficiary designation form to receive a specific percentage of your account value or as a contingent beneficiary.
Bank & brokerage accounts:
Assets like bank and brokerage accounts, CDs, and savings bonds can be a great way to help sustain our mission. Simply name Audubon Canyon Ranch as the pay-on-death (POD) or transfer-on-death (TOD) beneficiary of these assets.
Donor advised funds (DAFs):
You can name Audubon Canyon Ranch as the beneficiary of your entire fund, or a percentage, leaving the balance in your DAF to allow your children and grandchildren to continue your philanthropy.

IRA gifts

IRA Beneficiary Designations
As traditional IRAs are taxed differently than other assets, they can become a tax liability when inherited. Designating Audubon Canyon Ranch as a full or partial beneficiary of your IRA — and leaving other, less tax-vulnerable assets to your heirs — can reduce or eliminate this liability. You can name Audubon Canyon Ranch on the beneficiary designation form for your IRA and designate the percentage of your IRA you wish to leave as a legacy gift.

A “Legacy IRA”
A “Legacy IRA” can boost retirement income and provide future support to sustain Audubon Canyon Ranch. Under a new law effective 2023, many IRA owners, 70½ or older, can now make a one-time, lifetime Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) of up to $50,000 in exchange for a charitable gift annuity. By using your Required Minimum Distribution to fund a gift annuity, you will receive fixed payments at an attractive rate for your lifetime. Unlike typical IRA withdrawals, this distribution from your IRA to a gift annuity is tax-free and counts toward your RMD.

Non-cash assets

Donating certain non-cash assets, like appreciated stock, mutual funds, or real estate, will provide Audubon Canyon Ranch with critical funding to sustain our mission, and is a smart way to make a gift today — or a future gift for tomorrow.

Giving non-cash assets held for more than one year can provide significant benefits including:

In most cases, you’ll receive a deduction for the full, fair market value of the asset donated.
You will not owe capital gains tax when the asset is sold.
Your gift to Audubon Canyon Ranch is tax-free, so 100% will be available to help us connect nature, people, and science.
Your gift will be larger than if you had sold the asset, and incurred capital gains tax, before making your gift.

Gifts that pay income

Charitable gift annuities
In exchange for your gift of at least $20,000, you will receive fixed annual payments at an attractive rate for as long as you live – and an immediate income tax deduction. Gift annuities can pay income to one or two income beneficiaries and can be funded with cash or stock. Naming Audubon Canyon Ranch as the remainder beneficiary of your gift annuity will ensure that, when your gift annuity ends, the remainder will be distributed to Audubon Canyon Ranch to help us achieve our vision for a world where diversity of life thrives, and nature benefits all.

Sample rates for one person as of January 1, 2024

Current Age	Rates

65	5.7%
70	6.3%
75	7.0%
80	8.1%
85	9.1%
90	10.1%

A “Legacy IRA”
A “Legacy IRA” can boost retirement income and provide future support to sustain the Audubon Canyon Ranch mission.

Under a new law effective 2023, many IRA owners 70 ½ years or older can now make a one-time, lifetime Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) of up to $50,000 in exchange for a charitable gift annuity. By using your Required Minimum Distribution to fund a gift annuity, you will receive fixed payments at an attractive rate for your lifetime. Unlike typical IRA withdrawals, this distribution from your IRA to a gift annuity is tax-free and counts toward your RMD.

Charitable remainder trusts
Charitable remainder trusts (CRTs) convert assets into income for one or more income beneficiaries – and can pay income for a term of years or for the lifetimes of the income beneficiaries. Donors who fund their trust with a gift of appreciated assets, like stock or real estate, do not pay capital gains tax when those assets are sold. Donors receive an immediate income tax deduction when their trust is created, and assets transferred to a charitable remainder trust will reduce the donor’s taxable estate. When the trust term ends, the remainder is distributed to qualified, public charities, like Audubon Canyon Ranch, named by the donor as the remainder beneficiaries.